- Joined
- Feb 23, 2016
- Messages
- 20,895
- Likes
- 37,942
http://lesswrong.com/lw/jm/the_lens_that_sees_its_flaws/
I think this essay encapsulates much that illuminates the approach of subjectivist audiophiles vis a vis with how many of us here on ASR approach understanding of hearing, audio and psychoacoustics.
One can listen to understand audio via only how it makes you feel. Or one can use understanding of how feelings in your brain and flaws in your humanity can detach you from reality. With understanding of your lens you can at least take some corrective action to maintain correspondence with what is real.
As the essay concludes:
But a human brain is a flawed lens that can understand its own flaws—its systematic errors, its biases—and apply second-order corrections to them. This, in practice, makes the flawed lens far more powerful. Not perfect, but far more powerful.
I think this essay encapsulates much that illuminates the approach of subjectivist audiophiles vis a vis with how many of us here on ASR approach understanding of hearing, audio and psychoacoustics.
One can listen to understand audio via only how it makes you feel. Or one can use understanding of how feelings in your brain and flaws in your humanity can detach you from reality. With understanding of your lens you can at least take some corrective action to maintain correspondence with what is real.
As the essay concludes:
But a human brain is a flawed lens that can understand its own flaws—its systematic errors, its biases—and apply second-order corrections to them. This, in practice, makes the flawed lens far more powerful. Not perfect, but far more powerful.